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Timeline
=Timeline= Note: Almost none of this information is of vital importance. It is here to lend internal structure and retain narrative cohesion. Skim as you will. Most Naians would not take the time to read something so long, after all! Many Years Ago: *A generational 'seed ship' containing embryonic genetic data, one among many, is sent into the stars. *It is unknown if this was an idealistic attempt to spread Humanity to the farthest stars, or the last gasp of a dying civilization. 3+ Millenia Ago: *The seed ship arrives in orbit around a vast, three-mooned ocean world containing only a small scattering of landmasses. *It spends two decades analyzing the atmosphere, making minor tweaks to the cellular archives and raising the tiny first generation of colonists, before beginning a controlled crash landing. *It is known that some other species were also 'seeded' at this time, which were deemed to be of great benefit to Man in the new environment, among which was the dolphin. 2-3 Millenia Ago: *The first few generations of colonists have it rough, but are eventually responsible for a beautiful and sprawling civilization that attains a high degree of technological acumen, though never again reaches the stars. The exact reasons for which remain a mystery. *This pelagic civilization was concentrated on the scattered landmasses, gradually forming many advanced, 'island-city' states. *They prosper for a thousand years. 2+ Millenia Ago: ''' *The gleaming civilization, now in full bloom, is able to detect the supernova collapse of a nearby star. *Their scientists calculate that within a generation, blasts of uncontrolled, cosmic radiation will irradiate the upper biosphere of the planet, melt its tiny icecaps and flood most pockets of once-inhabited land, leaving behind only irradiated atolls where once had been mountain peaks. *Predicting the extinction of all surface dwellers, and 99% of marine life existing less than 600 feet beneath the surface of the water, they resolve to concentrate all remaining resources, both technological and human, into constructing many great 'Mother Ships', which are designed to descend deep into the planet's seemingly fathomless world ocean. *Some claim that each Mother Ship is powered by piece of technology that came from the preserved remains of the original seed ship of ages past. '''1.9+ Millenia Ago: *The ocean world is irradiated as predicted. All remaining life on the surface is annihilated as the polar ice caps melt, flooding every remaining pocket of land. *Marine life in the upper reaches of the ocean is almost entirely killed off. Although over the next few centuries, many of these species will evolve and bounce back from the edge of extinction. *At least 95% of all humans perish, either from failing to complete their Mother Ships in time, being insufficiently adapted and inexperienced, or suffering technical breakdown. 1.5+ Millenia Ago: *Of the eleven Mother Ships that survive technical or mechanical catastrosphe, seven more will fail over the following generations, owing to societal disruption or collapse, as either under-population, over-population, violence, poor leadership or insufficient husbanding of resources doom one Mother Ship after another. *Today, those seven are known as the Lost. *It is likely that the failed Mother Ships were extensively salvaged by survivors, although few like to dwell on such knowledge. *Finally, after an unknown number of years, only Four Mother Ships remain. 1.3+ Millenia Ago Ago: *By this time, surviving Mother Ships have managed to make the necessary sacrifices and societal adaptations required not just to survive in the Deep of the World-Ocean they now know as Naia, but to fluorish. *The first three Mother Ships belonged to what is now thought of as the ancestors of the Mantean, Naian and Syren tribes, or Oceanborn, all of whom evolved roughly similar social and cultural coping structures, including the faint beginnings of pod life as it is known today. *The fourth tribe, known as the Makaran, evolved a radically different culture. Details are scarce, but suggest monstrous or horrifying habits that could not be tolerated, and were predatory in nature. 1.1 to 1.3 Millenia Ago: *Mantean, Naian and Syren unite to drive the Makaran into extinction, in what was called the Abyssal Wars. *The specific details of these ancient, fratricidal battles of the Deep are mostly lost to remembrance. *Makaran are known thereafter only as the Fallen, possibly because their crippled Mother Ship fell into the Endless Abyss, where no known depth has ever been recorded. 1000+ Years Ago: ' *Naian culture as it is known today settles into its final shape, making their traditions far more ancient than either the Mantean or the Syren. *During this time, the Mantean were the most powerful and numerous. They eventually grew so great as to attempt to build a new permanent city on the ocean floor in emulation of the past. *It thrived for two nearly two centuries before being lost, owing to a great underwater volcanic eruption, subsequently sliding into the Great Rift, which is a huge trench some twenty five miles deep. *The Manteans were much reduced in number and pride, becoming a coldly conservative and stubborn culture, with an obsession for the Abyssal depths, and exploring the Great Rift to recover what was lost. '''800 Years Ago: ' *The Syren Mother Ship is the first to return to the surface and brave possible lingering effects of radiation, after more than a millenia. *Some claim that they returned too soon and were affected as a result, contributing to a couple minor, physical variations such as the occurence of aquamarine eyes. *The Syrens develop a reputation for impetuous behavior, and these self-styled Lords of the Waves soon reaped the rewards of being the first to reclaim the High Ocean, (considered roughly the first 600 feet of water, which is also the richest in marine life). *Syrens were disappointed that atolls were revealed to be mostly lifeless, jagged shards of rock upthrust from the sea. Perhaps reflectively, they adopted these jagged bairns as their own tombs. *Their population rapidly expands to be greater than the Naians and the Manteans combined. '150-750 Years Ago: ' *The Oceanborn enjoy six centuries of peace without any major conflicts. *Some generations are more difficult than others, such as the thriving Syrens who periodically suffer a catastrophe every couple centuries from the decade long phenomena known as the World Storm or Naia's Wrath. This might have contributed to the flexibility and adaptability of their culture. *Naia's Wrath was last felt nearly two hundred years ago. *Possibly the Golden Age of Oceanborn culture. '''150 Years Ago: *Incredibly, Syrens make First Contact with a human research expedition, who claim to be descendants of another generational seed ship, and who have been investigating likely planetary candidates for centuries. *Apparently, this human civilization not only retained their capacity for spaceflight, but enhanced it, as they claim that it took only twenty years of suspended animation to reach the ocean-world of Naia from their nearest populated system. *After some initial suspicion, the human researchers and scholars are welcomed among the Syren, who treat them as objects of curiosity. This receives little attention from the Naians and even less from the Manteans. *The human researchers are delighted to find a practical and intelligent species of 'near-humans' as they are categorized, with the rare traits of being both primally spiritual and lacking in superstition. *Some of these researchers grow exceptionally close to their Syren hosts, and are in turn, virtually adopted. 110 Years Ago: ''' *The first Consortium and House agents arrive on the ocean-world of Naia, which they rename the Unincorporated Territory of Seidon, each in competition with the other. *These agencies essentially represent gigantic corporate interests, each with a vast alliance of sub-guilds, cartels, venture groups, banks and other such deferential institutions in league with them. *Although the researchers and their descendants act as fierce advocates for the Oceanborn, tensions rapidly begin to rise, starting with the first Syren attack on a Corporate recon team exploring where they should not have been. *The once modest research stations are gradually expanded into corporate staging posts. *Construction begins in secret of a low-orbit space station that will allow mass interstellar transit. *Fatefully, a number of precious resources are discovered, including rare metal particles which are carried in the fast flowing, underwater rivers known as nadi, and many varities of flora and fauna with promising biochemical potential. '''90 Years Ago: *Amidst a series of increasingly violent incidents, and over the objections of the still-living researchers and their descendants, the completion of the orbital space station heralds the arrival of thousands more corporate agents and security personnel. *New corporate construction forces begin to build one expanding base after another, including the first iteration of structures whose inhabitants become known as 'floaters', essentially resembling free-floating aqautic habitats of cylindrical construction, not unlike corks in the water. *During this time, the violence grows so severe between some Syren and corporate factions, that many begin to treat the other as kill on sight. *Consortium and House interests initially compete as much with each other as with the Syrens, until increasing depredations by Syren warpods force them into an alliance of convenience. *At the same time, they begin to aggressively establish a belt of protected 'Exclusive Zone ' bases, initially founded upon scattered atolls, some of which were sacred to the Syren. 70 Years Ago: *After enduring a number of profit-destroying setbacks and disastrous public relations scandals, the Consortium and House interests are finally brought together by their mutual suffering to form a newly chartered company with a jointly elected Director - the Seidon Cooperation Initiative. *Unusually, this Director is given sweeping, even dictatorial powers, to manage the Territory and reverse the situation in every way possible. *This coincides with a substantial influx up of SCI security forces, as thousands of fresh mercenary contractors arrive each year, armed with both new technology, and more importantly, appreciation of just how dangerous the natives can be. *The Surfacer Wars begin. 60 Years Ago: *After a decade of building up their forces and strengthening their defenses against near continuous raiding, the SCI security forces launch a massive offensive, this time with new innovations such as ghost nets and aquatic fighting vehicles. *While not capable of Deep Ocean actions, SCI forces are no longer helpless to strike back at the predominantly Syren-inhabited High Ocean. *Syren Oceanborn begin to suffer alarming casualties for the first time - leading not only to an evolution in their own tactics, but to the first appeals for assistance from their Naian and Mantean bretheren. *Perhaps owing to the fact that some Naian pods had already been taking part in the fighting for years, the Naians do not balk at joining the war in earnest. Very few Manteans, only those with significant Naian or Syren relations, answer the call. 50 Years Ago: ''' *After ten years of brutal fighting, the combined Syren and Naian Oceanborn begin to inflict one staggering defeat after another upon the SCI. *Warpods are quick to adapt and improve upon captured SCI technology and seem to own the ocean, where the SCI forces merely blunder. *Harsh weather, harsh conditions and technical mishap exact a terrible toll on the mercenary contigents, some of whom begin to mutiny. *The SCI Director responds with crushing brutality to quell unrest and wild strategic gambits, but finds his authority quickly becoming unravelled. '''45 Years Ago: *25 years after the Surfacer Wars began, and 15 since the Naian joined the fray, the counter-offensive of the Oceanborn reaches its climax, as the largest and best defended floating city of the SCI is ravaged. *The SCI Director is in the process of being evacuated to the orbital station, when he is assassinated by a Naian infiltrator who dies in the attempt, the sole survivor of his pod. *It appear that the war is won - at least until the first vanguard units of the United Commonwealth Military begin to make planetfall. *It soon becomes known that the House and Consortium under pressure from terrified shareholders had given up the majority share of their control over SCI stock to the United Commonwealth government, in return for military assistance in crushing the native resistance. *The Unincorporated Territory of Seidon had now become the Protectorate of Seidon, and the Surfacer Wars are about to enter their second and cruellest phase. 32-45 Years Ago: *Depite some initial reverses, the UC Military soon proves themselves to be far more lethal foes than the SCI Security. They are quickly perceived as consumnate professionals willing to learn from their mistakes and adapt to the tactics of the natives. The relentless precision of the their assaults and the ferocity of their marines are an intimidating combination. *It becomes clear after only a few years that the Naian and Syren Oceanborn have no hope of regaining the offensive as their warpods are cleared from one High Ocean Exclusive Zone after another with ruthless efficiency. *This is accomplished with the aid of UCM Boomers, massive battle-submersibles capable of operating beyond the traditional confines of the High Ocean. This is combined with the increasing tendency of using elite marine teams to locate potential areas where pods might be congregating to coordinate their attacks, and then proceeding to carpet the ocean with depth charges and powerful sonic blasts. *It is the incredible scale of the depth charge operations that drive the Naian Mother Ship, the Empyrean Peregrine deep into seclusion. Without the support of their Mother Ship, the Naian warpods are forced to act with autonomy and in smaller numbers than ever before. While effective as ever at raids and sabotage, Oceanborn warpods can rarely stand and fight the UCM. *When the UCM clears a zone, thousands of fresh SCI Security forces are able to move back in and quickly refortify, allowing the UCM to stay mobile on the offensive. *Having expected the war to be finished within eighteen months, the United Commonwealth Military is initially chastened when the conflict shows no signs of abating, yet presses on with a grim resolve. 38 Years Ago: ''' *Seven years into the second act of the Surfacer War, the United Commonwealth Military strikes a massive and stunning blow at the native resistance when they locate and cripple the Syren Mother Ship, which had been hidden in the Little Rift. *There are many who claim that this could only have been possible by an act of betrayal, as the electromagnetic interference of the waters should have prohibited all detection by Surfacer sensors. *Normally, the Mother Ship remained so deep, that any depth charges would implode long before they could damage the Mother Ship. However, it had been caught at the precise time where it had briefly risen from the Little Rift to change position. Possbly owing to Syren unfamiliarity with operating at such depths after so many centuries ruling the waves. *The Syren Mother Ship is crippled - though miraculously remains viable long enough for Naian and Syren pods, with crafts as small as the swift Shadowfin Mantas taking part, to save a great many Oceanbirn lives. *Tragically, the Home Council and elected Exarch of the Syren Mother Ship choose to remain. Their loss shatters the Syren unity - nor does it help when the Manteans claim the remnants of the Mother Ship as their salvage, by right of the Rift. '''25-37 Years Ago: *The Naians are now waging a desperate rear guard action to protect their home waters in the deep Twilight Sea. *Despite having no shortage of mariners (especially since the influx of Syren refugees), the loss of the Syren Mother Ship's production capacity to repair and replace both watercraft and armaments forces the Naians to conserve their strength by refusing battle wherever possible. *Tiny warpods, sometimes consisting of a single Manta, act autonomously, striking pinprick blows and escaping long before the UCM hammer can fall. *The struggle for Syrens to adapt is made slightly easier by the dire nature of the war in these years, but remains a difficult societal issue. *With assistance from a descendant of the original research team that had made Contact nearly a century before, the Naians eventually begin to consider seeking an end to the fighting. *Unknown to the Naians, these twelve years are considered extremely arduous by the UCM, who having been denied a complete victory, increasingly view the conflict as far exceeding the cost-to-benefit ratio. *At the end of 12 years, the UCM's presence is many times larger than it was at the start, and exponetially more expensive. By contrast, the safe Exclusive Zone of the SCI flourish, with hundreds of thousands of indentured immigrants shipped in from offworld, undisturbed by the occasional collateral damage. 24 Years Ago: ''' *46 years since the Surfacer Wars began, and 21 since the intervention of the United Commonwealth Military, a temporary ceasefire is declared. *Although this ceasefire is sorely tested by both Oceanborn marauders and newly confident SCI Security forces, it holds true thanks to the iron will of the UCM governor and the farsighted Naian Home Council. *Many Syrens are disillusioned and upset by the ceasefire, while many Naians feel they have sacrificed enough on their brethren's behalf and desire a return to normalcy. *Intensely criticial of the ceasefire, the SCI contravenes UCM law by seeking to construct as many aquatic bases and rigs as possible before a peace can be declared, even in regions far outside the Exclusive Zone. '''20-22 Years Ago: *Peace is finally declared. *The Naians are forced to acknowledge the right of the SCI Exclusive Zone in return for the UC's acknowledgement of the sanctity of the deep Twilight Sea. The UC version of the treaty is translated to denote the Oceanborn as native human citizens of the UC. The Naian version of the treaty reads rather differently. *SCI forces almost immediately break every pledge the UC made. *There are several competing Syren Exarchs-in-Exile who protest yet mostly serve only to delegitimize each other's authority. The Syrens believe that by agreeing to the treaty, the Naians have sacrificed the Syren's ancestral waters in the best parts of the High Ocean. The Years Since: *A third of the Syrens seek to assimilate into Naian society, where many of them have close relations. This leads to some friction and some population problems, coupled with a shortage of watercraft. Many Syrens find themselves pushed to seek admission into existing Naian pods instead of forming their own. *Most Syrens seek to maintain their autonomy - though are mostly scattered and disorganized sub-clans, centered around grottoes and some Leviathan surgers which are a poor substitute for the Mother Ship. Those Syrens that seek to reclaim the salvage of their Mother Ship are brutally attacked by Mantean pods. *Some Syrens, albeit in increasing numbers, do the unthinkable by taking up residence on the floating cities and agreeing to serve as guides or security specialists for the SCI. These Syrens are considered renegade traitors, even by their own kind. Some view it as the only way to return home to the High Ocean. Others are bitter by what they consider the Naian betrayal. *The United Commonwealth Military presence is reduced to a garrison force, some say with unseemly haste in response to other distant troubles. The elite marines that remain are too few in number to ensure complete adherence to the peace treaty by either side. *The SCI continues to bring in hundreds of thousands of new, indentured laborers, the vast majority of whom will never able to afford a return trip. There is some tension between this new flood of nearly slave labor, and the thousands of free workers and their descendants. Black Market and violent crime begin to take hold as fringe floaters beyond the Exclusive Zone acquire a 'might makes right' reputation. *Many Syren and Naian pods continue to strike at SCI interests where they can get away with it, especially where those interests extend beyond the Exclusive Zone. Many more seek to return to their traditional way of living.